PRRM is an NGO in the
Philippines dedicated to bringing development especially
to the poorest people (see also
www.prrm.org/index.htm).
I worked at PRRM-Ifugao Branch as a VSO
volunteer from July 1990 to December 1992. Originally, my
job was to help introducing a form of sustainable
agriculture. The last 10 months, I worked on developing
this firefly Micro Hydro system, testing it and
introducing it in Cambulo, a remote village that was
chosen as pilot village.

A
real firefly, it is a magnificent sight to see thousands
of them light up a large tree.

The
Cambulo charger charging its first battery.

Ben
Nanglihan and my brother Ruud wiring up Ben's house. Ruud
did a lot of work in the Cambulo pilot project.

A
charge indicator. Rice-god Bulol is watching over it.

After I left the
Philippines, it took nearly a year before my successor mr.
Simon Taylor arrived. About half a year before, the
Cambulo prototype broke down. In an attempt to repair it,
the users made wrong connections and it got even more
damaged. With the help of Simon, the prototype charger
was repaired again. But by that time, most batteries of
users must have been worn out because of being left in
discharged condition for too long.

Simon wrote numerous letters asking for help on
technical matters, especially on the electrical wiring.
Often it was difficult to find out what had actually gone
wrong, so my replies became long letters as I tried to
answer all possible cases. Paid for by VSO, I sent the
second prototype that I had build in Holland, to PRRM. In
total, at least 4 chargers were installed by PRRM-Ifugao
while Simon worked there.

Simon doubted whether the technology
was simple enough for farmers to build and maintain. My
building manual was not yet available so he had to learn
technical tricks the hard way: By trial and error. Simon
also complained that most potential users expected PRRM
to subsidize a substantial part of all material costs.
Clearly the enthousiasm that the firefly idea had
generated during the10 months that I had worked on it,
had worn off. Maybe potential users saw that PRRM could
not solve technical problems right away and this made
them less confident about investing their own money.

The second prototype
that I built in Holland and was later sent to PRRM: Not
much larger than a fat Dutch cat. This one has an
adjustable nozzle, see also
Technical issues /adjustable nozzle.

Personal
comment (by Jan Portegijs):
Within PRRM, there was a strong focus on
organization building. This 'community approach' made
that introducing the firefly was not seen as a goal in
itself, but as a means towards this higher goal of
organizing poor people into strong, self-confident
communities that could take its future in its own hands.
Consequently, PRRM wanted its firefly chargers to be
community-owned. PRRM was not in favour of a role for
small businessmen in introducing the firefly, e.g. by
buying a charger and charging batteries of neighbours for
a fee, by building, installing and repairing chargers, by
trading in batteries and other materials etc. Simon
fitted in well with this approach: He learned two native
languages, he liked to mingle with local people and he
was not that focussed on solving all technical problems
that might crop up.

Maybe the firefly could have been introduced
more widespread and much faster by linking in with
private initiatives. In my opinion, introducing the
firefly could have been a goal in itself: It is a
renewable source of energy that improves living
conditions for rural poor by providing electrical light,
savings on dry cell batteries for radio's etc. Then if
the firefly would become an inspiring success, this might
make people more confident and spark off initiatives to
deal with other, more serious problems.

End of 1994, Simon got to know Engr.
Angelito V. Angeles and Engr. John F. Malamug of resp.
CLSU-ANEC and BSU-ANEC.
They became enthousiastic about the firefly
and wanted to use it for their Micro Hydro programme.
They had a sound technical background, access to a metal
workshop and they helped PRRM in building chargers.
Together with PRRM-Ifugao, they organised a 'seminar and
study tour on M.H. for battery charging', with mainly
people from 17 other ANEC's as participants.

Simon Taylor moved to PRRM Central Office in 1997. By that
time, PRRM got more interested in "Kilowatt-level" Micro-hydro
(so: with 230 V AC output and a local grid instead of battery charging) and
they had installed a 3 kW system in Gode. The Vice President
of the Philippines was present during the inauguration, so a big
publicity success. From a technical point, success was less likely
as the generator had no AVR (for output voltage regulation) and
there was no ELC (for frequency regulation). They thought about
buying an ELC from me, if they could find the funds.

In 1998, not much was achieved due to lack of funds. Simon worked
on a manual on how to plan, build and execute a Firefly project. He
wrote that SIBAT (an NGO active in Renewabe Energy etc.) had counted some
30 Firefly systems all over the Philippines.

In 1999, PRRM was seriously planning 4 "Kilowatt level" M.H. systems.
Their capacities ranged from 5.5 to 20 kW, with the 2 heaviest ones being
3-phase systems. They wanted to buy the ELC's with me so I made a
price quotation and designed the 3-phase version of my
"Humming Bird" ELC design
The order was never confirmed and in January 2001, I wrote PRRM that I
withdrew my price quotation.

I did not hear from Simon until March 2003. He had left PRRM in 2000
and now worked for IT Power, Reading, England on Pico Hydro (= very small Micro Hydro,
like the Firefly design) and Marine Current Turbines. He was reminded of the
Firefly by a colleague of IT India who was taking a Firefly up to
the hills, for his own power supply. He was about to return to
Ifugao, probably for a family visit since his
wife comes from Ifugao. He wanted to find out how many of the 5 or 6 PPRM
Firefly systems that were working in 2000, were still operational.